CSM Professor Plans Educational Opportunities for Better Understanding of the War, Aftermath
Wayne Karlin is an award-winning writer, Marine veteran and treasured national resource on the Vietnam War. He is also a professor of languages and literature at the College of Southern Maryland where his students have benefited from his passion for the written word and his belief in the liberating power of literature.
For nearly 30 years, Karlin has shared with his students his stark memories of the Vietnam conflict and the struggles of the returning servicemen and women. Now, during the 50th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam War, Karlin is sharing his experiences with the Southern Maryland community through lectures on campus and a travel study program to Southeast Asia.
“Rarely do you have an international tour guide of the caliber of Professor Karlin,” said CSM President Dr. Brad Gottfried. “Wayne fought there and has subsequently spent considerable time traveling around Vietnam, so he brings a wealth of knowledge and cultural understanding. Hes a Southern Marylander leading Southern Marylanders on the journey of a lifetime.”
Credit and non-credit students will spend two weeks traveling with Karlin through the countryside, and ancient and modern cities of Vietnam from south to north, using as “guides” some of the literature that has been produced by both sides that participated in the Vietnam War. In addition, students will meet with Vietnamese writers, scholars and veterans as a way to help to immerse into the history of the war and in the modern culture of Vietnam. Costs and registration information can be found at http://www.csmd.edu/ILC/vietnam2014.html.
Karlin is a five-time recipient of the Maryland Individual Artist Award in Fiction, received two fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, received the Paterson Prize in Fiction and the Vietnam Veterans of America Excellence in the Arts Award; his book Prisoners was named an Outstanding Novel of 1998 in the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook and Love After War was named one of the best books of 2005 by The San Francisco Chronicle.
In addition to his literary work, Karlin was a consulting producer for Shared Weight, a series of radio programs following journeys of reconciliation in Vietnam for the Center for Emerging Media for National Public Radio.
Closer to home, CSM is hosting The Things They Carried: Vietnam War Memorabilia, from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Feb. 17-21 at the Leonardtown Campus, C Building, Room 216. CSM faculty and students who are veterans of the Vietnam War will display the things they carried with them during their service.
CSMs Connections Literary Series will feature Karlin discussing his book Wandering Souls: Journeys with the Living and the Dead in Viet Nam at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 28, at the Prince Frederick Campus, Building B, Multipurpose Room. Tickets are $3 through advance sale at the CSM box office and $3 at the door with a student ID. General admission at the door is $5.
For information on Vietnam War Commemoration events, visit http://www.csmd.edu/vietnamwar50th/events.html.
For Information on travel course, Vietnam: Then and Now, visit http://www.csmd.edu/ILC/vietnam2014.html
Sidebar
CSM Home for Gloria Emerson Book Collection
CSMs Leonardtown Campus Library is the home for the Gloria Emerson Book Collection with more than 250 books about the Vietnam War and its aftermath. Emerson, an American author and New York Times correspondent in Vietnam, wrote Winners and Losers: Battles, Retreats, Gains, Losses, And Ruins from the Vietnam War, a National Book Award winning book about the Vietnam conflict.
“The Emerson collection provides researchers the opportunity to explore diverse views on the American involvement in Vietnam. Through this extensive collection, they can study the interpretations of participants at the time of the conflict. This collection may help students gain perspective that they may find relevant in our world today,” said Leonardtown Campus Library Coordinator Mary Johnson.
“Gloria Emerson was a good friend, as she was to many veterans, since the Vietnam war, someone who encouraged and supported my writing. A few years ago, she asked me if the college would be willing to accept her collection of books on the war as a gift, saying she no longer had room for them. I was delighted, but it was only shortly afterward that she took her own life, and I realized why she had wanted to be sure her books would find a home,” said CSM Professor Wayne Karlin, an award-winning author and Marine veteran of the Vietnam War.
According to a New York Times obituary published August 5, 2004, Emerson had been suffering from Parkinson's disease, which she feared would leave her unable to write. For the New York Times article on Emerson that details her work as a foreign correspondent and as an author, visit http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/05/obituaries/05emerson.html?ei=5070&en=7f4620a87442a858&ex=1184385600.
For library hours and information, visit http://www.csmd.edu/Library/LeonardtownHours.html
Calendar
The Things They Carried: Vietnam War Memorabilia. 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Feb. 17-21. College of Southern Maryland, Leonardtown Campus, C Building, Room 216, 22950 Hollywood Road, Leonardtown. CSM faculty and students who are veterans of the Vietnam War will display the things they carried with them during their service as part of events commemorating the 50 year anniversary of the start of the war. Free. http://www.csmd.edu/vietnamwar50th/events.html.
CSMs Connections Literary Series: Novelist Wayne Karlin. 7:30 p.m., Feb. 28, College of Southern Maryland, Building B, Multipurpose Room, 115 J.W. Williams Road, Prince Frederick. Wayne Karlin presents his book Wandering Souls: Journeys with the Living and the Dead in Viet Nam. The Connections Series features award-winning contemporary writers, poets and artists who share their work with Southern Maryland residents. Tickets are $3 through advance sale at the CSM box office and $3 at the door with a student ID. General admission at the door is $5. bxoffc@csmd.edu, 301-934-7828, www.csmd.edu/Connections.
Vietnam Then & Now: A CSM Travel Study Course. June 15-July 1. Led by CSM Languages and Literature Professor Wayne Karlin, award-winning author and a USMC veteran of the Vietnam War, students will spend two weeks traveling through the stunning landscapes and ancient and modern cities of Vietnam from south to north, using as “guides” some of the literature that has been produced by both sides that participated in the war, and meeting with Vietnamese writers, scholars and veterans as a way to help to immerse themselves in the history of the war and in the modern culture of Vietnam. $3,150 plus tuition and fees. Scholarships may be available. For information, visit http://www.csmd.edu/ILC/vietnam2014.html or contact CSM Service and Volunteerism Coordinator Heather Zeolla at hzeolla@csmd.edu or 301-934-7016.